Guild Wars 2

After spending a few hours trekking around Southsun for the other achievements, I decided to head into the “Crab Toss” mini-game, to see what it was all about.

The game started up, and my first reaction was, “Oh…this is like Keg Brawl.”

After about 4 minutes, my reaction was, “Oh…..this is like a much more annoying and frustrating version of Keg Brawl”

For those who haven’t ventured into this mini-game, the concept is simple. Grab the crab, and keep it in your possession for as long as possible, while other players and Karka attempt to strip you of it.

The problem is, that despite this simple concept, there are a few problems that make this a game of patience, more than a game of keep-away.

1. Lag

If you experience any sort of lag, you will probably find yourself unable to play effectively. Players will teleport all over the place, your character will behave sluggishly, and the crab will end up everywhere but in your hands.

2. Game Mechanics

ANet insists that their engine can handle these kind of mechanics, but I personally don’t feel that way. Games like this require a certain amount of fine control for your character. In the PvE environment we often see ANet pushing the limits of their engine with jumping puzzles, but when it comes to games like this, it just feels sluggish and annoying.

Anyone who has ever played a decent sports game (or even old NES sports games), knows how hard it can be when you feel like you’re constantly fighting the game. In Crab Toss, the mechanics just don’t allow for that feeling of fine control, it often feels like you’re just swinging wildly and hoping that you get the crab.

3. Visual Overload

From a visual perspective I find the game to be very distracting. There are so many visual elements on the screen at one time that simply finding the crab can be a task. You have rocks, logs, Karka, players, mini-karka, NPC’s, crates, glittery things, and icons all fighting for your attention.

This means that for many (myself included), it can be very difficult to figure out what is happening. The worst however is when you find yourself in a group of people, the crab icon floating in the air, only to realize that you were in fact the one holding the crab.

4. Achievements

I have no problem attaching achievements to mini-games. Where I take issue is when those achievements are based on a task that requires more luck than skill.

One such achievement is the Crabtacular Achievemet. In the description is states:

“Be the last player standing while holding the crab in the Southsun Crab Toss.”

Seems straightforward right? Not quite. Most players read this as, “Be the last one holding the crab when the time runs out.” but it literally means, “be the last one standing.”

Anyone who has played the game can tell you that the amount of things that have to go right for this to happen, is so large, that it comes down to chance more than skill. You can read more about this in this thread here ( https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/southsun/Crabtacular-Achievement )

For those of us who like achievements, this mini-game can be the sand in our boots. The achievements don’t seem to be based around getting better at the game, but at simply grinding it until you happen to crawl your way up.

Final thoughts.

I think that the Crab Toss game is a very uninspired mini-game. Off the top of my head I can think of at least three different ideas that may have been a lot more original and fun for players. Slapping a new coat of paint on Keg Brawl (and releasing it with a bug on top of that), just feels cheap.

I’m now of two minds on this. On one hand I want the achievements, on the other I don’t really want to play the game. Yesterday I happened upon a group that was working together to get the achievements, and while it was working, I found myself asking why I was wasting my time.

I for one am very glad this is temporary content. The only question now is, will players continue to grind away, hoping for achievements, or will you see more and more players working together to get them, and get out?

As a bonus, I’ll tell you all what I thought Crab Toss was going to be.

Anyone who has ever spent time on a rocky beach will tell you how fun, and dangerous it can be to move from rock to rock, avoiding slime, waves, creatures, spray, and even angry seagulls.

I thought for sure that Crab Toss would require players to traverse a series of obstacles, in order to Toss a crab into a point circle. I was unsure if players needed to work together, in teams, or as a race, but I thought for sure it was going to be something that mixed jumping, dodging, passing, throwing, and rolling.

I thought for sure they would avoid this whole, “Keg Brawl” idea where you’re fighting other players for possession of an object. It seems I was wrong.

I pictured something more like volleyball… something that involved tossing a crab

I agree that crab toss is basically a free-for-all, more chaotic keg brawl with the added fun of karka barrel rolls and facehuggers. (And to be honest I didn’t think that keg brawl needed to be made more chaotic.)

I really, really like the idea of mini-games. I don’t know whether to be disappointed in myself for not enjoying crab toss / to suck at it, or to be disappointed in crab toss for not being enjoyable. But there are other players who like it, so probably the former.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

As a bonus, I’ll tell you all what I thought Crab Toss was going to be.

Anyone who has ever spent time on a rocky beach will tell you how fun, and dangerous it can be to move from rock to rock, avoiding slime, waves, creatures, spray, and even angry seagulls.

I thought for sure that Crab Toss would require players to traverse a series of obstacles, in order to Toss a crab into a point circle. I was unsure if players needed to work together, in teams, or as a race, but I thought for sure it was going to be something that mixed jumping, dodging, passing, throwing, and rolling.

I would’ve played that!

I was lucky enough to get a group of players in a match with the same opinion about the mini game being horrible, and were nice enough to help me and a few others get the harder achievements for about an hour (winning a round, last one standing). even though some of the group randomly left at times, new players joining were glad we were helping each other get achievements, as that was the only reason they were there.
Edit: it was more a of a sudden realisation by one of the players saying “shouldn’t we help each other out instead of fighting for achievements?” and we all agreed

it was nearly impossible for me to compete with other players as I, being australian, had tremendous lag. i was hoping for more of an actual mini game (solo), not a pvp lag fest. even though this is an mmo, i prefer solo content.

Your idea sounds neat, they should implement something like this.

Now back to hoping the shooting range, bar brawl and the other future activities will be fun and not keg brawl with a pretty skin and no teams

I’m curious as to the logic behind calling it crab toss, since there is no tossing involved. It’s just a game of keep away.

I’m still trying to get Crabtacular after playing 4 hours. I like playing the game to win, every single time, while trying to do what I can to try to get the achievement. The achievement will happen, or it won’t.

I see far too many people complaining about it on the forum. It’s different, that’s nice and it’s fun if you go in just trying to hold the crab for points. Are people just getting frustrated because of the achievement and looking to get it out of their system? It is what it is.

They’re achievements! You already got one just for participating.